http://riset.unisma.ac.id/index.php/JREALL/user DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/j-reall.v4i2.20003
Volume 4 | Number 2 | p. 39-51 Published on July 11th, 2023
EFL teachers’ experience for hard of hearing students in inclusive setting
Nyoman Ari Ratnadi1, Luh Diah Surya Adnyani2*)
1STIKES Buleleng, Indonesia, 2English language Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Indonesia
1[email protected], 2[email protected]
*) correspondence: [email protected] ABSTRACT
Teaching students with hard of hearing in a mainstream school challenges teachers, including English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. This narrative inquiry study presents EFL teachers' experience teaching hard-of-hearing students in inclusive classrooms. Six EFL teachers participated and had in- depth interviews. The finding shows that EFL teachers are aware of hard-of-hearing students’
uniqueness. They facilitate them in learning English together with hearing students from the beginning of the lesson to the closing session. Teachers modify their teaching dan communication by combining spoken, written, sign language, and translation. Explaining and instruction to hard-of-hearing students are presented in slow and loud voices, emphasizing mouth movement and repetition. This study presents implications based on the teachers’ stories and suggestions for future study.
Keywords: EFL teachers’ experience; hard of hearing; inclusive education INTRODUCTION
The agenda of countries worldwide is to achieve education for all and equity in education in 2030 (Agavelyan et al., 2020; Hassanein et al., 2021). Many countries, including Indonesia, enacted policies and laws to realize sustainable education, such as Law no 20/2003 on National Education System, Bandung Declaration 2004 on Indonesian commitment to Inclusive Education, Bukit Tinggi International Symposium Recommendation 2005 to guarantee Education for All in Indonesia (Ardhika & Syaifudin, 2023), Regulation no 70/2009 on inclusive Education (Permendiknas No. 70 Tahun 2009), The Roadmap of Inclusive Education Program (Rencana Induk Pengembangan Pendidikan Inklusif Tingkat Nasional Tahun 2019 - 2024, 2019), and Regulation on the acceptance of students with disabilities in regular schools (Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan (Permendikbud) Nomor 1 Tahun 2021 Tentang Penerimaan Peserta Didik Baru Jenjang TK, SD, SMP, SMA Dan SMK, 2021). Based on Global Education Monitoring Report, in 2018, there were 11% or 1,600 inclusive schools from pre-primary level to tertiary education in Indonesia (UNESCO, 2020). It became 29.317 inclusive schools in 2019, and the government expects all schools in Indonesia to provide inclusive education in 2024 (Rencana Induk Pengembangan Pendidikan Inklusif Tingkat Nasional Tahun 2019 - 2024, 2019).
Inclusive education aims to prevent students with special educational needs from exclusively learning in special schools (Gallego-Ortega & Rodríguez-Fuentes, 2021). Instead, they can study and socialize with typical development students in mainstream schools regardless of their physical and mental disabilities (UNESCO, 1994, 2000, 2016). They do not merely interact with students with similar disabilities like in special school, but they can interact socially and emotionally with typical development students. It may prepare them to live in real society. On the other hand, the typical development students can increase their soft skills and be more emphatic, caring, sharing, helping, and tolerant to special needs friends (Darma & Rusyidi, 2015).
Inclusive education benefits special needs and typical development students in mainstream schools. Therefore, adaptation and modification should be made to the curriculum, teaching strategies, classroom management, and evaluation (González-Castellano et al., 2021; UNESCO, 2016). School
readiness, facilities, inclusive education system and guidance, teacher qualification, school culture, and support from parents and society are still challenges in implementing inclusive education in Indonesia (Jannah et al., 2021). In addition, the existence of teachers and shadow well-trained teachers to assist with special needs students is still a big issue (Ardhika & Syaifudin, 2023).
The Indonesian government has provided online training on special education. However, fewer teachers voluntarily participate in the training. Therefore, many teachers have not had in-depth information about inclusive pedagogy. Although most teachers are not knowledgeable about the features of special educational needs (Alali et al., 2020) and are unprepared to teach special needs students (Manrique et al., 2019), the teachers should be ready if the students with special educational needs register in their schools. They should be ready to work with students with disabilities and special needs accepted in the school. They should provide wholehearted service to all students and manage the harmony of special needs and typical development students.
In teaching English as a foreign language, EFL teachers need to use English in the classroom since it is not widely spoken in the community. The English language EFL teachers use in communication and instruction challenges students unfamiliar with it (Muguruza et al., 2020). The teachers may use their power to make a statement, a claim, or an assertion, share information, share emotion, provoke and follow up the conversation, or merely ask questions in English (Díez-Palomar et al., 2021). Selecting appropriate language and an effective technique for students with special needs can motivate them and increase their self-confidence. The dialogue initiated by the teachers is expected to activate students' participation to promote their learning (Hennessy et al., 2021), especially their language skills and social competence (van der Wilt et al., 2022). Dialogic classroom talk motivates the students to share their opinion, expand ideas, or clarify their answers (van der Veen et al., 2021).
Teaching hearing students to learn English as a foreign language is challenging. Facilitating hard- of-hearing students together with the hearing peers in one classroom setting doubles the challenges.
Hearing impairment categorization is related to frequency and/or dB loss with the range of slight, mild, moderate, severe, and profound loss. A sound wave or frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps) or Hertz (Hz), and a sound intensity, the loudness, is measured in a decibel (dB) scale, from 0 dB to 140 dB. Low-frequency loss makes hearing vowels difficult, while high frequency loss makes it difficult to hear consonants (Farrell, 2009). Therefore hard of hearing students may have limited language ability. Considering this limitation, students with hard of hearing in mainstream classrooms need more attention in a language subject, moreover in a foreign language subject.
Teachers should treat them well and consider their uniqueness because they have the right to learn and use English to reach learning objectives and get the same benefits of globalization in real life.
Although they have problems with their hearing, English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers should facilitate their English listening comprehension. Similarly, although most hard-of-hearing students have a speech impairment, EFL teachers should facilitate their English speaking skills.
Previous studies have investigated EFL teachers' strategies in teaching English to hard-of- hearing students. The teachers in special education in Surakarta used drilling and visual scaffolding to assist the students in memorizing and understanding better vocabulary (Hadi et al., 2019). The teachers in special education in Banda Aceh used facilitative, memory and repair strategies (Nisak et al., 2019).
To teach writing, Benin teachers used specific instruction models such as SIWI (Teba et al., 2019).
The pedagogical strategy used by teachers in a public high school in Ecuador was using technology, visual aids, communication tactics, and cultural knowledge (Peralta Izquierdo & Guaman Luna, 2023).
In addition, the classroom activities of hard-of-hearing students in a special school were designed based on the characteristics, needs, and abilities of the students (Dewi et al., 2019). The interaction in a special education English classroom uses oral and sign language as a communication technique (Kalimah & Kurniawa, 2022). Moreover, the teachers’ experience is important for implementing the hard-of-hearing students’ teaching programmes (Ntinda et al., 2019).
The previous studies about teaching hard-of-hearing students were mostly conducted in special education schools. Not many studies have been presented concerning EFL teachers' experience in teaching, facilitating, and communicating with hard-of-hearing students in mainstream classrooms.
Investigating how teachers deal with hard-of-hearing students is crucial since 432 million adults and 34 million children, or about 5% of the world's population and 2.6% of the Indonesian population, have hearing loss problems. A debilitating hearing loss is predicted to affect approximately 700 million individuals by 2050, or one in every ten people (Rokom, 2019; World Health Organization, 2023).
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the experience of EFL teachers in teaching hard-of-hearing students, including how they facilitate and communicate with them.
METHODS
The present study explores the experience of EFL teachers in teaching, facilitating, and communicating with hard-of-hearing students in an EFL-inclusive classroom. Narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the stories of EFL teachers about their inclusive pedagogical practice. Through narrative inquiry, they shared their past events and their personal real-life experience without feeling any constraints based on the dimensions proposed by Connelly and Clandinin, the analysis process focused on temporality, place, and sociality (Barkhuizen, 2011, 2022). Their stories were used to understand better the past experience of the EFL teachers who taught English to hard-of-hearing students in mainstream classrooms.
The stories are the data to be analyzed. The research stories can be the interview summaries of the participant’s experiences, such as what it is about, what is told, when, where, why, and by whom.
Besides, they can also answer particular questions, reflections, biographies, digital learning histories, blogs, classroom interaction videos, memoirs, classroom observation field notes and diaries (Barkhuizen, 2011, 2022; Norton & Early, 2011; Zacharias, 2016). When collecting data about their experience, the teachers answered the interview prompt by telling a story. For example, when they are asked what happened at the beginning of the lesson, they talk about their experience preparing the students, making them focus and ready to learn and giving examples of language expressions.
Six EFL teachers voluntarily become participants in this study. They are Indonesian aged 22 to over 55 and have two to over 30 years of teaching experience. Of those six teachers, three are male, and three are female. Three have attended training, and three have never attended training about inclusive pedagogy, but the sixth of them already have experience teaching inclusive students ranging from four months to ten years. They filled in the consent form, agreed to participate in this study, and knew the benefits and risks. Their identities are confidential using T1 – T6 to refer to those teachers.
The data about the teachers' experience and classroom language in the inclusive classroom, especially for hard-of-hearing students, were analyzed, and those EFL teachers in online meetings confirmed the researcher's interpretations. The data were analyzed by thematic analysis. Using a six- phase approach to thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2012), the data interview were transcribed and analyzed by conducting coding, shaping the codes to themes, reviewing the themes, naming the themes, and writing the report.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The in-depth interview presents the EFL teachers' narrative about teaching hard-of-hearing students in inclusive classrooms. While typical students can understand sounds, hard-of-hearing students cannot fully process them. As a result, their language skills may suffer due to the lack of vocabulary resulting from sounds they cannot comprehend. Hard-of-hearing students have restricted language skills compared to their peers with normal hearing. As a result, hard-of-hearing students require distinct types of language learning. The experience of the teachers is presented from the beginning until the end of the teaching-learning process. Here are the thematic analysis categories:
Preparing students
Before starting the lesson, the teachers in this study accepted all students and ensured the students were physically, psychologically, and emotionally ready.
“Before I come to the class, I must ensure everyone, the hearing and the hard-of-hearing student, can access my teaching plan. All students should feel important and will be treated equally.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My attitude as a teacher may influence their success in school. Therefore, I need to accept the hard of hearing student for he is.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
The class started by greeting, inviting students to sing and dance, approaching inclusive students, and asking about their readiness.
“Teaching hearing students is very different from teaching hard of hearing students. They need to be ready for the lesson.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“For hard of hearing students, I look at his eyes and say, How are you? Are you ready to study?”
(Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Before talking about the lesson, I asked, Are you ready to learn? to all students and to hard of hearing students personally.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Just say Let's sing together.” The teacher (T4) who teaches elementary students often asks them to sing along, for example, “If you are happy” and “Good Morning” songs.
(Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom) Focusing the students
Due to the constant concentration required to listen to or pay attention to the teacher or speaker, hard-of-hearing students may be more exhausted than hearing students. As a result, teachers need to provide frequent pauses from listening to or watching. In addition, directly touching the students' shoulders, waving hands to them, staring into their eyes, and not moving around are non-verbal communication to make them focus.
“I alternate the explanation or class discussion with individual work, so that the hard of hearing student do not have to pay close attention for very long.” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“To make him focus, I touch him, call his name, and look at his eyes.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Common expressions to make the students focus are as follows.
“Sometimes, the hard-of-hearing student looked at me with a flat expression. Hmm... so I emphasize the important thing by saying, Listen, this is important. I hope he can pay more attention and understand”
(Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I often say Look at me to make him focus on my mouth and what I said.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Hello, are you with me? I always touched the hard-of-hearing student’s shoulder when he didn’t see me.”
(Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I translate, Pay attention by saying Tolong perhatikan when approaching hard of hearing students.”
(Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Yeah… I just say Listen to me, please!” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Hello, please pay attention, (name)! I call his name often to make him focus.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
In the reading activity, the teacher asks the students to focus on the book or text and focus on the teacher when she gives correct pronunciation.
“He is hard to hear, but he can read the text. However, you know… the problem is when he answer, he needs correction. In pronunciation, I mean. Then I give correct pronunciation slowly and ask him to repeat.
I just say Imitate this pronunciation! It may take some time. Repeat again and again.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
The teacher (T4) who teaches elementary students often says words and expects the students to respond. For example, when the teacher says “hi”, the students answer by saying “hello”. When the teacher says “hello”, the students answer by saying “hi”.
To ensure that the hard of hearing students have a good view of the teacher, they should be seated in the second or third row. The position influences their focus. The teachers ask them verbally or by sign language.
“I place them at the front to make hard-of-hearing students more focus on the teachers or the speaker.”
(Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom).
“I said come here. I asked him to sit down at a desk in the front row. I point at the student, I mean the hard of hearing student.” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Every time I play LCD or speaker, I waved my hands and point at the chair in front. He then sat down near the speaker.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Giving instruction
Hearing loss is an access problem rather than a learning disability. Teachers must ensure that students participate in the same amount of instruction and class discussion as their peers.
“When instructing hard-of-hearing students, I spoke loudly with intentional lips and hand movements.”
(Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom).
“I know he has difficulty in hearing me, but, you know, I like to say Listen carefully! And repeat the instruction just for him.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I need to give an equal chance to the students to present their presentation. So I give a sign to the hard- of-hearing student to come.” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“When I think he is ready enough, I write on the board his name and wave to him to answer.” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
When the hard-of-hearing students read aloud, ask or say something, the teachers often instruct them to repeat and speak louder.
“His voice is not loud. I need to correct the answer or the pronunciation. I ask him to repeat once again or speak louder, please. The voice is louder, but then soft again, and I ask him again to speak louder.”
(Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
When the teacher did not understand the speech, he asked the student to write what he wanted to say:
“Sometimes, I just don’t get it. He spoke softly or unclearly. So, you know, I asked him to write what he said. So in my class, this student prepare some paper for me, I mean for writing when I ask him.”
(Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Some hard-of-hearing students can listen to sound by using a hearing aid. The cooperation from regular students to make a quiet classroom is essential. Regular students often make noise. It disturbed the hard-of-hearing students. Teachers' common expressions to regular students are as follows:
“Keep silent.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Don't make noise.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Don't disturb your friend. He can't hear what I said.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom) Sometimes teacher (T4) simply says, “No, No, No!” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Asking question
When asking questions to hard-of-hearing students, the teacher should face them and make sure they see them or see the movement of their lips. Giving open-ended questions is better than yes/no questions.
“When I asked him about the text, I repeated my question. I repeated the answer of his friends too. Well, I think saying again the answer of his friend is important. Yeah... to give him a clue in case he did not hear it well. Then I asked his answer or idea.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I prefer to give an open-ended question. I think it is better than just giving him a yes/no question. He did not speak, he just nods, and sometimes he just nods to let it pass.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My hard-of-hearing student use sign language, It’s hard for me because I do not understand sign language.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Inviting students to ask a question
Most students with disabilities are quiet and passive students. To achieve student centre learning, teachers need to invite students, including hard-of-hearing students, to ask questions.
“The hard-of-hearing student in my class is a passive student. I don’t know if he understands or not.
After I asked which one is not clear and asked him to ask, he just smiled.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I give a chance to all students to ask me. I use similar questions, like Any question from you? or Do you have any questions or just asking in Bahasa Ada pertanyaan, anak-anak? Usually, no one asks me questions.” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My hard of hearing students rarely ask questions. Although I said Do you have something to ask, he always shakes his head.” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Giving an explanation to hard of hearing students
Since they have a listening problem, the teachers' explanation is often unclear. The teacher should pay attention and explain again to these students.
“In giving explanation, I give repetition and focus on the hard-of-hearing student. I explain to the class, and then I repeat for him. Then I explain again to all students, and back to the hard-of-hearing student.
I often say, What I mean is…. So, I explain something twice or even more.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Well.. it is important to repeat the name of the student who did a presentation and explain slowly to hard of hearing student what had been stated by his friend.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I modify my teaching to make hard-of-hearing students understand my explanation better. You know…English in primary school focused on vocabulary. So, I always prepare pictures. I modify the oral language, combined with gesture and pictures.” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“When giving explanation, I explain to all students first. Then, I speak slowly to the hard-of-hearing student to make him understand my explanation. I said.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I wrote on the board, and face students when give explanation.” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Asking students for understanding
When asking whether the hard-of-hearing students understand the instruction or explanation, the teacher use yes/no question and open ended question.
“I often check his understanding, Do you get it?, Do you understand?, or longer, Do you understand what I am saying?” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I asked him back, What is it about? or Show me that you understand.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Asking students to state opinions, ideas, or answer questions
Since students with disabilities tend to be passive students, the teachers need to invite them to speak and be active in learning.
“I gave a chance to the hard-of-hearing student. Staring at his eyes, I usually say, What is your opinion about this?” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Usually the hard of hearing student does not participate in the lesson. I invite him to give his answer, Can you answer this? Tell me your answer! And usually, he shakes his head.” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“To hard of hearing students, after other students gave their answers, hmm… I asked him whether he had different answer or not. I often retell what his friends said, especially the students who sat in front.
He absolutely could not see their mouth movement. Then I asked him Do you have a different answer?”
(Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“The feeling of being included in a discussion is important for inclusive student. It may be challenging for him, I mean the noise in the classroom, but as teacher, I make him participate in the discussion. I asked him Do you agree with them? or asking Do you have any idea? or asked him to choose Which one do you think? It is when I asked him the best idea from his friends’ ideas.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Giving reinforcement
Reinforcement is essential for students with disabilities. It indicates that the teachers give attention and appreciation to them. Reinforcement can be given verbal and non-verbal. The verbal expressions, for example, “Very good, Good boy, or Good try.” The non-verbal reinforcement includes giving a thumb up, smiling and nodding, facial expression, and hand movement.
Giving assignment
The teachers modify the assessment given to hard-of-hearing students. As a result, they have more straightforward questions than the regular students in listening and speaking activities. However, they can have similar reading comprehension and writing assignments.
“This task is different from your friends. Do your best! Well, actually, the task given is simpler than the hearing students. When the hearing students were asked to present the complete ingredient and the step of making something, the hard-of-hearing student could do a simpler presentation. He still needed to do a presentation, but it’s based on their ability, their speech and pronunciation ability.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My hard-of-hearing student is given a discount in answering listening comprehension questions. They sat down near the speaker and listened together with their peers. I told him to answer number one until number seven, but he could answer those ten questions if he wanted. Answering seven listening comprehension questions was challenging too for him. Why seven? Yeah, I wanted them to try first and feel treated equally, but not really equal. It’s hard to explain.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My student, the hard-of-hearing one, had severe problems in English pronunciation. I wrote the task and I ask him just write the answer rather than say it out loud. He struggles in speaking Indonesian language, and more struggles in English.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Giving motivation
Students with disabilities who study in a mainstream school should be ready since they have differences from other students. Teachers' motivation can encourage them to cooperate and collaborate with other students and enhance their learning. Here is the motivation given by T1-T6 for them.
“I am sure you can collaborate well with all students in this class.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“I am sure you are good at something. Prove it.” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Please don't be shy.” (Interview T1,T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“You can do it!” (Interview T2, T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“You can!” (Interview T2, T4, T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Each student is special. Find your talent!” (Interview T5, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“You are better than the last meeting.” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“You make progress.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Try again, don't give up!” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“You need to learn more!” (Interview T1, T4, T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“It is not good to become a passive student. Please be more active.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
Correcting students
Correcting hard-of-hearing writing, answer, and pronunciation may take time. However, it should be done to make them aware and improve themselves.
“My student wrote the answer. He wrote when he wanted to say something. Sometimes the writing was good, but sometimes I needed him to clarify or correct certain parts. I appreciate him first then I want them to make corrections. Sometimes, I also write the correct answer.” (Interview T2, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“In doing a presentation, I often correct his pronunciation, ask him to revise and repeat the correct one. It is ok, but it will be better if you say this way… You should say this, not …..” (Interview T1, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“My primary hard-of-hearing student tried to answer my questions but he often gave the wrong answer. I tried not to make him down, I used Bahasa when saying I think the answer is not appropriate. Please find the suitable one!” (Interview T4, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“After retelling his friends’ answer, he gave a similar answer, I told him to find another answer.”
(Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom) Closing the session
The teachers often give handouts or youtube links to hard-of-hearing students to be ready for the following meeting and can do the follow-up exercises.
“I give you links to youtube for the next material. Listen to it and activate the caption.” (Interview T6, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“Learn again what we discussed today. Your turn is next week.” (Interview T3, December, 2021 via Zoom)
“See you next meeting. Do your best.” (Interview T1, T6, December, 2021 via Zoom) It is given to all students in the classroom.
Although a previous study states that most teachers are not competent in differentiating their teaching (Zerai et al., 2021), EFL teachers in the present study show their effort to facilitate hard-of-hearing students in learning English in inclusive classrooms. At the beginning of the lesson, the teachers greeted and made the students focus on the lesson. The teachers' attention to the students with disabilities became a warm welcome and encouraged them to pay attention during the English lesson.
Then, during the process, teachers gave instructions, explanations, prohibitions, and questions, invited them to ask questions, state their ideas or opinion, or state their understanding of the lesson.
Reinforcements motivated them to be more active. The assignments were adapted to their condition.
The lessons often ended with a particular follow-up activity to prepare hard-of-hearing students for the next meeting.
In English class, the teacher serves as a role model for his students, encouraging them to repeat what the teacher says and writes in proper English. Unlike their typical peers, hard-of- hearing students struggle to retain the material. If the teacher merely explains the information once, the hard-of-hearing students will not immediately comprehend it. Explaining a concept requires two to three repetitions (Hadi et al., 2019). It requires more time and influences the time allocation in every meeting. Two hours is not enough to teach hard-of-hearing students English in an inclusive classroom (Dewi et al., 2019; Hadi et al., 2019).
Since they are together, the instructional techniques are the same as those used with hearing students. However, teachers need to make some modifications. A combined use of spoken and written English, translation and signs is used to give instruction. Teachers may write important terms,
sentences, and assignments to clarify the oral language. When possible, teachers employ visual aids to give students more access to the information they are learning. The use of SIBI-guided finger spelling, gestures, and facial expressions by teachers as sign language are common (Kalimah & Kurniawa, 2022;
Teba et al., 2019). When the hard-of-hearing students see the actual object or the visual media, such as a picture, they can quickly learn a new language. Therefore, the teachers who give instruction and an explanation to hard-of-hearing students should prepare a visual classroom environment and visual aids. This visual input benefits not only the inclusive students but also the hearing peers (Dewi et al., 2019; Hadi et al., 2019; Teba et al., 2019).
Teachers should encourage hard-of-hearing students during English classes by introducing them to engaging, contextualized issues. Promoting a more inclusive learning environment can be accomplished by increasing awareness of their special requirements. Teachers who work with students with hearing impairments should try to receive specialized training in teaching techniques. They must keep in mind that educating hard-of-hearing students is different from teaching hearing students. This group of students has particular learning requirements, which should be handled differently (Kalimah
& Kurniawa, 2022; Teba et al., 2019).
In focusing hard of hearing students, the teachers place them at the front. Sitting near the teacher or the speaker helps them hear and concentrate (Miles et al., 2018; Taneja-Johansson et al., 2021). When the teachers give instruction, they often ask hard-of-hearing students to repeat and speak louder. Differentiation and individualization are needed in inclusive teaching practice. With hearing and speech problems, EFL teachers in the previous studies deliver the instruction or questions at a slower speed (Al-Abbas & Haider, 2021) to effectively transmit the content. The teachers initiate dialogue to engage hard-of-hearing students, commonly passive students, from the beginning to the end. The teachers try to facilitate social acceptance, emotional bonds and positive behaviour (Lindner
& Schwab, 2020) by giving motivation, explanations and correction. Since the teachers are unfamiliar with sign language, they often ask students to write what they want to say. Teachers need to explain slowly, often more than once, to hard-of-hearing students. The assignment is also different (Westbroek et al., 2020). The teachers give simpler assessments to hard-of-hearing students and provide youtube links or handouts to prepare for the following meeting.
This study only explores the experience of six EFL teachers who teach English to hard-of- hearing students in mainstream classrooms. The result of this study proposes implications that EFL teachers need to increase their awareness of the characteristics of hard-of-hearing students, their specific requirements and try to find effective ways to communicate and facilitate them in learning English regardless of their physical condition. Moreover, customized teacher training programs that offer teachers the uniqueness of hard-of-hearing students and the teaching methodology in inclusive schools will be beneficial. Future study is expected to investigate the experience of a bigger number of teachers, the best practice of young novice and experienced certified teacher from primary to higher education level in teaching hard-of-hearing and other disabilities students in mainstream schools.
CONCLUSION
In responding to the notion of schools for all, teachers should be ready to teach students with disabilities in a regular classroom. EFL teachers in this study try their best to facilitate hard-of-hearing students learning English regardless of their physical condition. Teachers modify their teaching by using oral language, written form on the board, sign language, and translation. They also modify the speed, gestures, students' position, material and assignments when communicating to hard of hearing students. This study has limitations in the number of participants and only focuses on one type of disability. Further study can explore stories from more participants and other types of disabilities.
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
